Time's Flight
by void star blade
Summary: Over 30 years have passed since the fall of Xemnas and a new foe has reared its mighty head. But how dose one fight an intersteller enemy with only two war hardend keybladers? Even the odds, or in this case, reset them. KHvarious cross.
1. At The Ending, It All Began

Grand Marshal Sora Of the Alliance Resistance forces stared out over the shattered stronghold that was once known as The World That Never Was, and remembered. He remembered how Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and everyone else he had known had died. Some had died peacefully, some after weeks of torture, but they had all died just the same. They had been pushed back, from world to world, making frantic treaties and alliances until the only world left under the resistance's banners was The world that never was. He had failed utterly and absolutely.

He was Alone….

"Are you brooding again, Grand Marshal?" High Warlord Roxas of the Horde Resistance forces teased gently. Ok so maybe he wasn't alone but Roxas was apart of him and they only had barely 40 troops left between them and most of them were wounded. One good raid from the Legion or the Heartless and they would be destroyed completely.

"Tell me High Warlord, do you bring any news? I imagine at this point its all bad." He teased gently back. Ever since they had gained the titles they had taunted each other about them. It was gallows humor at its finest.

"I'm afraid your right. Three of the men passed away last night from wounds sustained getting those supplies last week."

"Skrrrk"

"Sora!! If you're going to curse, curse in English, Ok? Not in Harpy tongue, you're the only one who understands it anymore."

"Do I look like I care?"

"My Lords!! The Legion attacks!!" a watchman shouted just before a Doomwhisperer cut him down.

"Skr'reek'kawmrk!" Sora again cursed in Harpy tongue as he and Roxas sped down to where the battle was joined.

* * *

"They're retreating!!" Roxas called from his side of the battlefield.

"Good! We may yet live to tell the tale!" Sora yelled back as he killed a Felhound that was trying to take out his throat. The battle was just winding down and he was still on his guard for a heartless mop up crew. He knew that they who were left were a lot of easy targets.

"Fall back to the Fort! Bring the dead and wounded!" he shouted before realizing that the only other person he saw walking was Roxas, and he had a nasty limp. 'I'm not doing too good my self' he thought, feeling his ribs and arms protesting the continued movement. But he could hear the wounded singing out to tell the walking that, yes, they were alive.

"Come on Rox, time to do BFC"

"What dose that stand for again?" now that Roxas was closer, he could see the matted blood in his halfway to white hair. 'He's got a Skrrk-ing concussion.'

"Battle Field Cleanup, Rox. It means we go around as fast as we can and get all our troops in the fort, live ones first."

"Oh, right…. I remembered that, really I did."

"Sure Rox, Sure."

* * *

"Sora… where… What?"

"Lay down High Warlord, your concussion got to you as you were helping Grand Marshal Sora cart in the wounded. You have been unconscious for 6 hours. There is no more work for you."

"Ok, Mar', you should lay down yourself. you don't look so good." Roxas said to his most loyal general and most powerful priest. Mar' Kath was also his closest friend apart from Sora.

"I am fine my Warlord… truly I am… I… just…" with those words, Mar' Kath collapsed next to Roxas' cot and as Roxas started from the cot to the floor, died from wounds he had not even realized were killing him.

Sora watched as Roxas broke as the second friend he had been unable to do anything to save died in front of his unbelieving eyes. He was glad that the infirmary was empty, then ashamed because he would be hauling the 37th body to the morgue out of the 39 that had gone to the fight. He and roxas truly were the last now. And the last candle of hope was that the Burning Legions would mutually destroy the Heartless Armies. It was not a bright flame.

* * *

As roxas lay weeping, alone in his infirmary cot, his mind spun back to happier days, days when hope still shone in the eyes of his people. He had not always considered them his, but after fighting for their survival for 20 years, they had become so. '20 years… has it really been so long since me and Sora split? Has it really been 25 years since I was created? Time has flown onwards uncaring of mortal sorrows….' something was nudging him about the last statement, as though it was not true, but 'time… time… we needed more time to avert this crises' the something in the back of his head was being very insistent about something. He turned his attention elsewhere 'what was that legend about, the one Mar' told me…. It was so long ago… he had a book on it…it had something to do with the dragons of Azoroth...' The something was screaming. "The legend had something to do with aspects… Oh! I remember the Dragon Flights of Azoroth were all associated with and had control over different aspects. Black was earth, red life, blue magic, green dreams, and what was bronze again? Oh yah, time…" he rolled over to get more sleep and wondered why his subconscious was yelling at him. " We can't do anything, the time when change could have been made has already passed, we would have to go back in time to do anything."

'… … Wait a minute'

He ran the last thought process through his head again. Ran them again, because the concussion must be addling his brain to come up with such an impossible conclusion. Jumped out of bed and collapsed on his bad leg. Grabbed a crude crutch and hobbled out of the infirmary.

"SORA! GET YOUR SULKING BUM OVER HERE!! I'VE GOT AN INSANE PLAN THAT JUST MIGHT WORK!!!!!" for the first time in 5 years hope shone in Roxas' eyes.

* * *

"Roxas that is completely insane. There is no way a dragon could send us back in time! It just isn't possible!"

"So is losing your heart and still remembering who you were and being able to split from your somebody after rejoining him. We don't care about possible or impossible, Sora. We just do."

"Ok, ok I get your point, but where should we go to find this dragon?"

"That's simple. We go to the caverns of time, in Azoroth, on the continent of Kalimdor, to the southern desert. There we shall find the caverns of time."

"Roxas?"

"Yes Sora?"

"You do remember that Azoroth was taken over by the Legion 12 years ago, right?"

"Kek! Minor details… we just have to be stealthy"

"…" Was Sora's eloquent reply.

* * *

'We just have to be stealthy he says, I've got a plan he says. Well I say he has gone cliff diving without a parachute. But then again, as Ben said, "Who is more idiotic? The idiot, or the idiot who follows him?" or something like that… Kreak'wark! That was close! What was I Skrrrk-ing thinking when I agreed to this?' Sora was sneaking past a pitched battle between the Burning legion and the Heartless they had lured there by standing around holding the keyblades for 40 minutes. It had been the first time in 8 years either of them had held the keyblades. He had been using a blade called Despair, while Roxas had been wielding two blades called The Sun Eater and Blazefury. It had been odd seeing Oblivion and Oathkeeper after so many years, but not as odd as seeing his current keyblade, called Epitaph. It was a fitting name.

Sora was shaken from his reverie when Roxas poked him and pointed to a cave just beyond some ruble.

"There it is," he hissed in the lowest and softest voices he could manage "the cavern of time is just though there."

Sora just nodded as they slowly made their way to the cave. 'At least its defensible.' Was his sulking thought.

* * *

"Woah…"

"Yah, Woah…"

They were in the caverns of time and it was an amazing sight. It seemed like the whole of eternity shown above them. They stood there, awed, until…"Roxas, What's that noise?"

"Sounds like wings" before he finished the sentence, they were in the most defendable position they could find and scanning the vaulted ceilings for any flying adversaries.

"Look." Roxas' soft voice carried awe and wonder at what he was seeing. "It's a bronze dragon!"

"Keep your head down, we don't know if its heartless or not!" Sora hissed as he pulled roxas down behind the house they had found in the caverns. He did not have roxas' spark of insane hope, and thus was thinking clearly. Read: he still had enough paranoia that if he was still somewhere that wasn't war torn, he would be known as the creepy and paranoid old war veteran that went funny in the head while he was fighting, even if he was only 38… he thought. Maybe 40... ish. Somewhere around there. Anyway…

"Sora do you think I can't tell if a being is heartless or not? I'm a nobody remember? He is still whole."

"I am glade you can tell," said a whispering voice from the roof that had them halfway to the other side of the cavern before they even thought to look at what had spooked them. "But I must ask who you are and your purpose for being in these caverns when the world of Azoroth has fallen to the Burning Legion. You are most defiantly something a great deal like human." By now they were all the way across the cavern and had a building between them and the dragon, had their bows out and strung and were just catching up with what their bodies had done while they had been in automatic flight and fight mode. Then, they registered the dragon's words. "What do you mean 'something a great deal like human'?"

"Roxas is perfectly human and so am I!"

The silence that followed opinionated two things. The dragons silence opinionated that 'Of course your are right, I shall just discard countless millennia of wisdom and knowledge and go with that shall I?' The silence from Roxas' direction opinionated that Sora had lost his mind somewhere along the way, would he like some time to go find it?

"Err… Yah... /**coughcough\** ignore me." Sora said in a very small voice. The silence opinionated 'I thought so.'

"My name is Roxas, my companions Sora. We have come here to beg that the Bronze flight aid us in setting things to right, by diverting the burning legion from its course in the distant past, and thus altering the timeline to a better point." He elbowed Sora in the ribs Hard when he opened his mouth at the word 'beg.' Sora had an ego left, small and tiny thing that it was. Roxas had no such limiter.

"That is an interesting way to phrase a request so large. Normally such requests would be denied before they were even said, but there is another reason the Burning Crusade marched so flawlessly. They have been receiving help from the Infinity Flight. The Bronze flight has worked tirelessly against the infinity flight, just as they have toiled ceaselessly to undermine the flows of time. The only way we can see to repair the timeline is to send champions back in time to halt the burning Crusade and the infinity flight. I shall endeavor to aid you in your quest. My name is Zaladormu. Please come this way, I have prepared means for this to be accomplished."

Roxas and Sora followed the slowly walking dragon deeper into the caverns.

* * *

"Here it is" Zaladormu said while indicating a huge hourglass like structure "This shall merge you with your younger selves and the bracelets shall allow access to your armor, potions, weapons and equipment"

"Err," Sora spoke out for the first time since he blundered "what bracelets?"

Zaladormu looked unaccountably smug. "Why, the ones around your wrists."

"What bracelets around our… HUH?! How did that get there?" roxas asked the wind.

"Magic..." was Zaladormu's mysterious response.

"… You've been waiting to say that, haven't you?" was Sora's rhetorical question as he and Roxas stepped into the structure.

"Farewell travelers and good luck." With these parting words Zaladormu activated the hourglass and forever altered the face of history.

"…. Grandpa Nozdormu is going to kill me for this." Three guesses who said this and the first two don't count.

* * *

AN: Ok here is the end of the extremely long prologue. The next part is going to be KH1 and as I get further into the game you will see a defiant drift from what is the cannon timeline. Hope you enjoy this. 


	2. Nightmares, Pirates, and Parents, oh my!

It was a beautiful day on the destiny islands and Riku hated it. This was because every day for the past month had been the same and before that 90 percent of the days had been beautiful for the past 15 years. 'But at least the raft is almost done, if I could get Sora and Kairi to help.' The three bright spots in his doldrums life were, in order, Sora, his best friend and rival, Kairi, whom he liked (he wasn't sure wither or not it was boyfriend/girlfriend like or brother/sister like, but he'd figure it out later.) and the Raft, half finished and the only way he was getting off the islands anytime soon. And speaking of Sora and Kairi, there they were just down the beach. Sora was curled up in a ball and Kairi was going over to wake him. As he walked closer he say Kairi's face scrunch up in concern, and thus picked up the pace.

"Hey, Kairi, What's the matter with sleepyhead over there?" he asked lightly, trying to get the worry out of her face. Then he heard what was causing her distress, Sora was whimpering quietly in his sleep, and now that he was closer he could see that the reason he was curled up was because he was having a nightmare and trying not to make too much noise. He had never seen Sora do that before. Whenever Sora had a nightmare he lay unnaturally still and flat as a board, but was so loud you'd think he'd wake the dead.

"He won't wake up, Riku. He's so scared by his nightmare he won't wake up!" Kairi was a tightly wound coil of worry and so was he. Riku lent down and started to softly shake Sora.

"Come on Sora, wake up. We're here and everything's fine and wake up. Nothing here's gonna hurt you, so wake up." Sora twitched and next thing he new he had a shaking brunet in his lap, apparently intent on never letting go of his waist. But he still wasn't awake. He started to gently rub his hand up and down Sora spine and to Kairi said, "Come on, Kairi, help me calm him down. He needs to calm down before he wakes up." By now the scene had attracted the attention of Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie, who were walking over with worry written as plainly on their faces as it was written on his.

"Sora, Sora, come on Sora, we're really worried about you. Guys help us wake him up, say something to help calm him down." Kairi said addressing the crowd of three that had formed.

"Err ok…." Wakka was the first to open his mouth. "Come on man, your scaring Riku and Kairi with you not wakin' up, so do that, yah?" Riku glared briefly at Wakka for assuming that anything scared him before turning his attention back to Sora whom wasn't shaking so bad anymore. He tuned out the other words spoken by the group, focussing on his rival as he slowly woke.

"Back up guys, give him room." He snapped at the surrounding group who paid as much attention to him as he had them. Sora stirred and in the sudden silence looked up at him. His heart nearly stopped at the haunted look in the normally carefree eyes. It looked like he'd aged 30 years in a combat zone.

"Hey Sora bout time you woke up! You had us worr-!" his sentence ended in a squeak as Sora nearly broke his ribs with how hard he squeezed them. He opened his mouth to tell Sora to let go, when he froze solid at the words Sora was mumbling into his shirt.

"They're still alive, they're not dead, they're still alive."

In a sudden leap of logic he realized what Sora had dreamed of to make him so frightened he couldn't wake.

"Yah Sora, we're all still here. We're all safe. We're all alive and well, it was just a nightmare." The others looked at him when he said that before they too made the leap of logic that told them what Sora had dreamed of. "It never happened."

It wouldn't be all that long before Riku realized why Sora burst into hysterical laughter at that last statement, before it tapered to tears.

* * *

Night was falling in the destiny islands, and Riku and Kairi had stayed with Sora the whole day after he had cried himself out. To say they were worried about their friend was like saying a bridge support line was just a bit tight. They had both figured out that Sora had dreamed of them dieing but they couldn't figure out why he would dream of such a horrible thing. They were hesitant about going home and leaving Sora there alone, but he swore up and down that all he was going to do before he left was get some rope and a sail for the raft, which they belatedly realized they had done nothing on the whole day. He seemed to be back to his cheerful self again saying that the only reason the dream had affected him so was because that was his greatest fear, that they would die and he wouldn't be able to do anything. He said that that he was fine now and he wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that he'd held up the raft and that they should go home and rest, he could see that they were tired. He'd be along shortly, go on. 

And so they left, leaving him on the island alone with many a backwards glance. This was just what he had been waiting for. As soon as they were out of sight he ran to the secret place to the door to the worlds heart.

"Hey Rox, ya there?" he asked the air and moments later, Roxas stepped out of the shadow he had melded with.

"Man, Rox! You still look 40!" and indeed he did. Roxas looked like the 40-year-old, scar-covered, 6 foot 5 war veteran he was. Sora, on the other hand looked the part of the young, innocent kid, which he was defiantly not. "You've even still got those scars you got when a Balverene nearly took out your eye!"

"Yah, yah, Sora, rub it in. at least I don't look like the first Summoned Imp I came across would eat me for breakfast. Have you even tried to summon any of you old weapons? Your armor won't fit that's for sure."

"Ha! You've forgotten," Sora taunted as he summoned Epitaph and his armor, which fit him perfectly, "all our armor has been charmed to fit anyone like a second skin, be they tauren, dwarf, or human! And Epitaph has always been light in my hands." The last sentence was said bitterly, because the unspoken reason Epitaph was the lightest of the keyblades was that all the weight was the weight of sorrow and loss, which had no physical weight, and so much mental weight that it nearly crushed Sora to look at it, let alone wield it.

Epitaph was a keyblade like no other. Its main core was made of obsidian but you could barely see it for the engravings in white marble. The engravings were the names of people that Sora had witnessed die, had failed to protect, and was a reminder of what he fought for. The jagged headstone that served as to make the blade a key as well as the chain itself was engraved with the part that gave the blade its name. "Him I have known, who died in the fray. Her I have known, who died in sorrow. They I have known who died in the defiance of fear. They I have lost, who were my heart. They I remember every night and day. All I shall carry, until I do die."

Sora stared at the blade for several moments until roxas coughed to get his attention.

"Do you still bear the mark?" Roxas asked politely.

"Of course I still do, you wouldn't be here if I didn't." was Sora's mysterious response.

* * *

A lone figure sat on the end of the dock and watched the moon reflect on the ocean. The figure sighed and said, "That's it. I'm going back after him." 

"Ok Riku, we're coming too." Kairi voiced from where she, Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie lay behind some crates on the dock. Riku and Kairi had gotten to the main island docks to find the trio waiting for them and Sora. After a brief squabble over the fact they had left Sora alone, they had settled down to wait. They had watched the sun set and had waited an hour after that for the boy to get back, before Riku had lost patents with the boy and announced the intent to go after him. If he had waited 30 more seconds it would have been a toss-up between the rest on whom would have announced the desire first.

Riku looking over the moon-drenched ocean still saw a large shadow moving far faster than a rowboat could have. Then he saw the glint of moonlight on metal. Lots of metal.

"Pirates!" he hissed to his companions as he dove behind the crates to hide his distinctive silver hair. The destiny islands had only been invaded by pirates twice, but all children had been trained to hide and be silent if they saw a fast moving ship after dark. This had saved several children from being seen by a pirate scouting ship when they had been sleeping on the Play Island, and Riku remembered this, having been one of those children.

As the children peered between the crates they saw the shadow was actually three smaller shadows two of which didn't seem to be touching the surf.

"Sorcerers!" Selphie hissed in awe before she was silenced by elbows to her ribs. Sorcerers were rare on the destiny islands but not unheard of. They also tended to be employed by either pirates or the government. Government sorceress almost always came during the day and by normal means. Which meant that the sorcerers that were coming their way were almost certainly employed by pirates. It looked like a master student pair, with the student towing a boat. The master touched down on the dock first and confirmed the idea that he was in a pirate's employ. No person with any good intentions would wear such worn armor or have such evil looking blades without sheaths. They sat very still, sure that their beating hearts would give them away. The master sorcerer look out to the water as his student landed with as much grace as he had.

Then the master spoke, and they realized who the student was.

"Sora, are you sure about just vanishing?"

"What else can I do, Rox? I can't tell anyone why I'm leaving, no one would believe that I have knowledge of the far future and am leaving to fix it so that the total population of the universe is not mostly heartless and demons! They'd think I was insane and try to stop me, and then I'd have to vanish in front of their noses, and that would make it so that I could never come back."

"Sora, if you take this path you can never come back anyway. It will take at least 2 decades to steam the burning legion on top of the years it will take to stop the heartless threat. Not to mention Organization XIII is on the move, and _looking for you._ Also you have apparently forgotten something very important."

"What have I forgot that is so skrrrk-ing important, Rox?"

"Kairi is a princes of heart. Riku is a keyblade bearer. Malificent, Xehanort, Xemnas, and Marluxia will do anything to get their hands on them. How will you keep them safe if you are not here? Sealing this world's keyhole will not stop the heartless. It will not stop Malificent from coming to kidnap Kairi. It will not stop Xehanort from coming to take Riku. It will not stop any of them."

"I know that Roxas." Sora's tone made them tense as one, for they knew that tone. It was the tone he used before he did something the rest of them would disapprove of. "that is why I'm going to do something you'd hate."

"and how will you keep me from stopping you?!" the man identified as Roxas looked like he already knew the answer.

"I've always been faster than you." Sora's voice came from behind roxas as he suddenly collapsed without any warning aside from a glow from Sora's hands.

"And I've always been better at defensive magic."

"that's nice Sora," Riku said as he got said boy in a headlock, "that means you can wake him back up so we can go to my house and have a nice long talk about life, the universe, and how the heck you know magic and what you meant by 'knowledge of the future!'"

all Sora could say in response to the fives' glares and Riku's words was "Ah, Skr'reek'kawmrk."

* * *

Roxas woke to the sounds of the waves and quickly ran though the last memories he had to figure out why he was laying on a dock. 

"Sora, I'm going to kick your ass so hard-" he broke off seeing that Sora was not alone. "Sora, I had thought that you had it in your mind to not tell anyone else." His tone was one of congeniality, his gaze one of amusement as he matched names to faces.

"They decided to wait up for me." And Sora was in a champion sulk.

"Heard everything did you, Riku, Kairi, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka?" he said bemusedly.

"We're headed to Riku's house to discus the matter. Would you like to come along." Wakka phrased it as a question, said it as a statement.

"You will yell 'pirate' at the top of your lungs if say no, won't you?" he was still bemused.

Blindingly cheerful smiles were his only response.

"then how could I say no?"

* * *

The sun dawned bright and cheerful on Riku's house and those within it were still awake to see it. 

"So its decided," Roxas began, having become the official 'adult' in the discussion, "You five will be coming with us to try and stop the heartless and burning legion, screw what anyone else says." Here he turned and stared at Sora, who was looking just a bit overwhelmed. He had gone so long without close friends that he had forgotten that they have a tendency to go 'All for one and one for all, and screw you if you think we aren't helping.' He had argued vehemently against any of them coming, but had seen sense where Riku and Kairi were concerned. As for Wakka, Tidus and Selphie…. Well Tidus had threatened to stick his head out the window and yell that pirates were kidnapping Sora and Riku, Wakka had said that he'd do the same, and Selphie's surprisingly strong argument had also been the most surprising. They had all known that she was adopted, but when Sora had objected to her coming she had simply said, "I want to see how Squall and Sifer have grown up." This had gained many looks of shear shock, and secured her the right to come along, and by proxy Tidus' and Wakka's right too.

"Ok then, I want all of you, yes, you too Sora, to write letters to your parents saying that you've been accepted into apprenticeships as apprentice sorcerers. That will cover for your abrupt absences. Then gather 5 changes of fighting cloths and 4 meals and come back here."

"Ok Mr. Roxas!" was Selphie's cheerful response as she bounced out of the house at the heals of Tidus and Wakka.

"That girl makes me feel old." Roxas said as he sat down on the couch.

"Roxas, you are old." Sora poked roxas in the ribs.

"Ok I'm done." Riku said as he came out of his room. "and I got some extra food just in case- Ahhh… hi mom, you went due back for another day or so."

"Riku you have 5 minutes to tell me where you are going and who you are going with." She said as she marched Riku into the living room. Then she caught sight of Roxas, still in full armor minus his helm, which was sitting on the coffee table next to The Sun Eater and Blazefury. She took one look at Roxas and opened her mouth to scream. Riku put his hand over her mouth and said, "Mom! It's ok! He's a friend! He's gonna be teaching us kids magic and fighting."

"what!" Riku's mother screeched. "my little boy learning magic from, from some pirate?!"

"He's not a pirate mom, he's from another world."

"WHAT!!"

"This is going to take some explaining." Roxas muttered as Sora helped guide Riku's mother to the recently vacated couch.

* * *

He ended up explaining it 6 times. It turns out all of the kids ended up running into their parents, except Sora's parents who ran into Kairi's parents on their way to see if Sora had spent the night at Riku's. He gave an abbreviated, parent friendly version of what he was doing there. It did not go down well. 

After listening to the Parents proceed to deny vehemently that they were going to let their sons and daughters be taken by a ruffian they were sure was a pirate, and trained in the arcane arts and arts of war for 10 minutes Sora had had enough. He got their attention by summoning Kingdom Key and using Blizzaga on the table, freezing it solid.

"Enough. Roxas give them the real version, no matter how hard it is to swallow." Sora said, and suddenly, for the briefest of moments, the assemblage saw Sora as he had been in the future. Scraggly brown hair gone almost completely silver, enough scars to make him resemble a topographical map where his skin showed, worn armor that made him look like a demon, and haunted blue eyes that told of ten thousand dead friends and comrades, with a dark blade on his back that had its own aura of crushing sorrow. Then he was Sora again but the blade, armor, and eyes stayed. They parents stared as Roxas gave them the grim truth, and crumbled as he told of their fates and the fates of their children.

* * *

if you start expecting an update a day you will be sorly dissapointed. i think. and you can thank Crystal Feathers that this thing is here at all. Stupid plot mice. 


	3. Leons, Ducks and Meetings, Oh my!

In a back alleyway in traverse town, Squall 'Leon' Leonheart leaned against the wall and stared at the stars. He had heard that some of the king's men were looking for him, and he was trying to collect himself before he was confronted by them. He hated talking to anyone, be they friend or foe. He sighed and stood up, it was time to face the music. As he turned to move into the ally proper, he heard, saw, and felt the darkness form a doorway. He immediately ducked back behind the crates he had been hiding behind, gunblade out and at the ready. He knew from long experience the best way to get out of a fight with the heartless with your skin more or less intact was to get the drop on them. He peered at the portal as it divulged 7 forms one large adult in war torn armor and 6 kids in leather armor over normal clothing. All were armed with some sort of weapon, mostly swords, with one of the older boys carrying a wicked spiked ball, and the girl, carrying nun-chak-ku. He realized belatedly that he knew her.

"Selphie!" he hadn't seen here since the …. Hollow Bastion had fallen to the heartless. "Your ok!" he had been worried about her and the others, he had been afraid she had become a heartless to. Then he noted something that had passed his attention in his happiness to see another bastion survivor. "How come you're 3 years younger than you should be?" he asked confused. She looked 14 instead of the 17 he had expected her to be. She had been 4 years younger than him when the bastion had fallen, but now there was a seven-year gap between them.

"Squall! You gave me a start! How've you've been? Have you been ok fighting the heartless? I think I'm younger because I drifted in the void for a while… but how long has it been since the Garden fell?"

"Garden?" he asked confusedly, then he remembered. "I can't believe I forgot that the true name of our world… it's been nine long years, Selphie."

"Nine years… Oh! I forgot! Squall this is Roxas, Sora, Kairi, Wakka, Tidus, and Riku. They my friends and Roxas is teaching us how to fight the Heartless and The Legion!" Selphie was as cheerful as he remembered, even in the face of danger. He took a second look at her companions. The boy identified as Riku reminded him painfully of Sepheroth, while Sora struck him as old before his time. Roxas worried him. He knew by just looking at the older man that he would loose in a fight against him, even if he managed to ambush him. Roxas was a veteran of many years of combat, he had experience that he himself didn't have. Tidus and Wakka reminded him of what he had been like before the basti- the _Garden_, had fallen. The last girl, Kairi, reminded him of Arith. They both had the same sense of purity. Then he thought over what Selphie had said about teaching.

"What's 'The Legion'?" he asked with a sense of dread.

"It will take some time to explained. Could we gather the town's defenders and speak in a more defendable and private position. Some things are not meant for the uninitiated." Roxas stepped forward taking command. Leon nodded and suggested that they head to the Hotel. Arith had promised to meet him there and he could collect Yuffie and Cid, who he thought would like to hear this as well, on the way.

* * *

As Leon was catching up with Selphie, Sora was lost in his memories. The last time he had seen Leon had been 10 years in the future, as he and Cloud had been defending the retreat from the Radiant garden. Leon had shoved him on the gummi ship that Yuffie had been piloting. He had yelled at her to take off, while Arith Cid and Riku had held down him and Roxas. Yuffie had looked at him and said, "Goodbye brother." And then she shut the door and took off. He would have liked to say that had been the last time he had seen Leon, but that would be a lie. He had encountered Leon's heartless a year later. He had been the one to give the mercy stroke. He had thankfully never encountered his nobody, it would have been too much for him to see the man he had killed again. As for cloud… he had never seen cloud again. Sepheroth had informed him that cloud had taken his own life rather that become a heartless again. He hadn't asked how he knew this, Roxas had already told him that Sepheroth was a nobody. It only took one small leap of logic to figure out who his somebody had been. Arith had died when Leon's heartless had attacked. Yuffie had died of sorrow a year later. Cid had died on a suicide run against a Legion portal. He had taken Kazzack and at least 100 smaller demons with him. Sora hoped he had been happy with taking one of the greatest threats to the Resistance down with him. Sepheroth had died after casting meteor on 3 Legion infested planets, the strain of casting a spell that should have never been cast more than once in any lifetime three times catching up to him is his final sleep. Riku had died 4 years later, the last of his original companions to fall. Xehanort had overtaken him at long last, and to everyone's surprise had fulfilled Riku's last wish. He had seen Sora to the relative safety of Middle earth, before going back and closing the Legion portal from the other side. Xehanort had been listed MIA presumed Dead. Sora still remembered Xehanort's last words, "Riku couldn't bring himself to continue, so I shall fulfill his final wish. He has impressed me, but all beings have their limits. He has hit his, and now I see my former enemy to safety and take down as many demons as I can. Take care of yourself and don't try to join the departed anytime soon. And take this. Riku had been working on it, and I finished it for him. Happy Birthday." Xehanort had then pressed Epitaph into his hands and shoved him through the portal. It had closed 30 seconds after he fell though. The only reason he had not sped back through, Riku and Xehanort's wishes be damned, was because he had been shoved so hard he had broke an arm on landing. He couldn't say he was surprised.

Sora was broken from his memories when Riku poked him in the side and said, "come on, Sora, we're headed to the Hotel. Keep up."

* * *

Roxas was worries about Sora, Leon could tell. He kept sending subtle glances at the boy, worry showing clearly in his eyes, if not his face. Leon wondered what the kid had been through to give him such haunted eyes; it could not have been pleasant. And judging from the way the group was interacting they had a huge secret that might pertain to how a young man had the same eyes and attitude as a 40-or-so year old war veteran, who had not been 2 days out of the combat zone. He also wondered how a hardened warrior not 2 days out of the fight had ended up teaching such a mixed group of kids. He decided to ask about it.

"Roxas, how did you end up with such a mix group as students, when you yourself aren't 2 days off the field?" subtle he was not. Roxas diverted attention from the first part of the question with another question.

"How do you figure I'm not two day off the field?"

"Your concussion. Your eyes aren't focussing properly yet."

"Ahh, I had hoped no one would notice that." Was Roxas' reply.

"You still haven't told me how you ended up…" Leon trailed off seeing a Shadow attempt to jump Riku and Sora automatically turn it into smoke and a heart that floated up, up, and away. He recognized the weapon Sora had used. "Ahh, I see." 'Ohhhh, Shoot. This must be what the king's men wanted to talk to me about.' He proceeded to pale greatly as the implications of having a keyblade in Traverse town sunk in. Roxas, seeing Leon pale and correctly divining the reason behind it said, "It gets better. Riku has a keyblade and Kairi is a princess of heart." Leon proceeded to trip on an uneven cobble and went a shade of white normally reserved for the dead and those that haven't seen daylight ever.

Roxas, sadist that he was, laughed at Leon's stricken expression.

* * *

Once they got to the hotel and had settled in the green room, Leon spoke. "Now we have to find Arith and the kings men." As he mentioned the king's men, he noticed Sora's expression turn to sorrow for a moment before it became blank. Riku leaned against Sora for a brief moment, giving him a small comfort. Then his attention was diverted as Roxas walked to the balcony and stuck his head over the edge and spoke to the ally.

"I presume that you are the kings men and Arith?" noises of assent greeted him. Leon wondered how Roxas had known that they were out there.

"Would you please come to the green room in the hotel? It's rather important."

"I'm sorry," Arith's voice floated up to them from the ground. "I promised a friend I would meet him in the red room as soon as I found the Kings men." Leon poked his head over the balcony too and saw the familiar face of Arith and… a duck like thing and something vaguely resembling a dog, presumably the king's men.

"It's ok Arith, I'm here with Yuffie and Cid, could you bring the kings men here? It has something to do with why they are here."

"Oh! Leon! Of course I will." He could see her confusion but he could not get rid of it. He didn't know what was going on either.

Roxas surveyed the room with a calm gaze. Leon coolly returned it, while Yuffie looked antsy and he couldn't read Cid or Arith. He had not known them well. He looked to Sora and saw that he was done with flashbacks for now, then he examined the rest of his charges. It was odd to think of them as such but they were. He began the version of events they had agreed on last night.

"As I have said before, My name is Roxas. I am an interplanetary mercenary whose home was taken over by the Burning Legion and then destroyed by the heartless. I have been searching for many years now for a way to get back at them. Recently I heard the legend of the keyblade and decided to search for him or her. To my surprise I found two, as well as a princess of heart and a girl from another world. I decided to take and train them so that they would stand a chance against the Burning crusade and the heartless, unlike my world. Now, since you already know about the Heartless, I'll inform you about the Burning Legion." The attention in the room piqued, this was information they would need. "The Burning Legion is a large army of demonic creatures headed by a titian named Sargeras." The room starts at the fact they are facing an ancient. "It sole purpose is to wipe out all life in the universe." The silence that fills the room is grim, but no one in the room could say they were truly surprised. It was just their luck.


	4. Organized trouble

"Well, that went well."

"Sora, Shut up." The meeting had just let out and Roxas was exhausted. They had grilled him for over 2 hours on a wide range of subjects, including several things that he had not thought up answers for in advance and then they had picked his brain for strategies. For the most part he had fielded the unexpected questions well…but…

"_Now tell me merc, why should we trust you when you are not being completely honest?" Leon had asked while bringing out the death glare, mark 30. Roxas having been subjec__ted to The Superio… (Damn will I ever stop referring to him as that?) _Xemnas_' death glare, mark 35, was unaffected. He proceeded to pull out a line Jack Sparrow had pulled out on Sora. " well, you shouldn't worry about __dishonesty, because with a dishonest man you can always trust him to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for. Because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid." _

_They just stared at him. Then Yuffie deadpanned "and your are quoting…?" "Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Perl, Finest Pirate to ever sail the seas." Sora answered for him. Leon stared at Sora for a moment and then looked to Riku, got a good look at his grin and said "If the fate of all worlds rest in your hand, I think I'll go find a nice quiet spot to watch the world end from." _

"_HEY__!" was the unanimous reply, followed by Yuffie__'s admonishment of "Just their __a bunch of Pirate wannabes being trained by a professional Mercenary doesn't mean that they won't save they worlds and leave it a better place…" silence "well you can't debate the 'Save the worlds' part." Silence, and then Roxas said "Actually, I'm not just a Mercenary, I'm also Wanted Pirate, a Bandit lord, and a High Warlord, among other things…" Leon and crew looked like they really wanted to believe the legends that keyblade bearers would bring peace, but currently was being shoved by their common sense towards the legends that stated he wo__uld bring chaos. At this point R__iku said into the sudden silence, "Jees, how many times do I have to tell you Tidus, Chaos and peace are not mutually exclusive, its just that chaos tends to lean toward destruction." Leon, having completely forgotten what the question he had asked had been, turned to Riku and drawled, "well doesn't that make me feel all warm and fuzzy." _

"_Well its true, just like the Light Darkness and th__e Void aren't either!!" Riku snapped back. It was then Leon remembered just why he had asked the question in the first place, "Ok then, tell me, Roxas, How you are able to access the Darkness so Readily? How can we be sure that you aren't in league with Maleficent?" _

_the room went very, very qui__et, it seemed like the words were echoing in the ringing silence that had suddenly fallen. Then he replied, softly, calmly, and with a voice so lacking in emotion they knew that they had hit upon a subject that was as raw as a 3__rd__ degree burn. _

"_I __never said I made it off my home Whole." He said, and the capitol letter was audible. "Maleficent wouldn't ally herself with me even if I held the key to kingdom hearts itself. She would rather see me dead." _

After that there had been an uncomfortable silence until Riku had suggested they come up with some strategies. It was now 6 and a half hours later and Roxas was exhausted. "Sora I'm going to-"

In mid sentence he felt it. The subtle rippling that indicated that another nobody had set foot in traverse town. "Sora, I think we're in for some Organized trouble!"

"Skkawwk-Rrrk-Keeak!" was what he heard as Sora took off for the Green room and he jumped onto the rooftops and took off for the source of the feeling. As he drew nearer to the feeling he got the distinct feeling it was above him. As he skidded to a halt, he looked upward and saw the source of his feeling.

"Xigbar!" he shouted in surprise.

"Who the hell are you?" Xigbar growled from behind Roxas at the same time he felt the distinctive feeling of having a gun shoved into the back of his head. "You have 30 seconds to tell me how you recognized me with my hood up and how you knew my current name." He continued as he pulled out his other gun and shoved the tip into Roxas spine. Roxas decided to be insane and tell his former sort-of-friend the truth. "I come from nearly 30 years into the future, and I was part of the organization before you all got killed." He continued before Xigbar could respond. "And to prove it, I'll list the Organization members in order from 1 to 13." We don't have thirteen members." Xigbar cut in. "You do in the future." Roxas cut right back. "Fine start listing." "Fine! One Xemnas, two you, three Xaldin, four Vexen, five Lexaeus, six Zexion, seven Siax, eight Axel, nine Demyx, ten Luxord, Eleven Marluxia, twelve Larxene, and thirteen me. If you like I can tell you powers and deaths!" Xigbar was silent for a time then said "come with me, I'm taking you to-" "The World That Never Was, here let me do the honors." With no objection forth coming from his semi-captor, he opened a dark portal, pulsing his energy in such a way to tell Sora that he was gone unwillingly, and to not come looking for him. "After you." Xigbar said while nudging him into the portal with his gun.

* * *

Not to far away and at the same time, Sora's head whipped up and stared at the west wall of the green room, where he had been arguing with Leon over the fact that Sora wanted to go help Roxas and Leon wanted Sora to stay put. He snarled as he decoded the hidden message in the pulse wave. "Well it's too Skrrrrking late now, Leon! Whoever the nobody was just managed to forcibly extract him from this world. Skr'reek'kawmrk Kreak'wark Skkawwk-Rrrk-Keeak Gods Damn it all to Fucking Bloody HELL!" He pulled his hair as he began to pace and curse virulently in over 50 languages and dialects. Leon was shocked to see tears running down his face. Wakka and Riku shoved him out and locked the door. He heard through the door Riku saying "Calm down Sora, Your other half won't leave you. He's smarter than that. And don't forget you have us again." What did Riku mean 'other half?' and what did he mean 'again?' There were a lot of mysteries and they weren't getting clearer. 


	5. even more Organized trouble

'Well. Thing could be going better, but they could be worse.' Roxas thought as he was frog marched towards building that served as the Organization XIII stronghold. He knew Sora was not going to take his leaving well at all, but hopefully with Riku and Kairi there he would manage. He had more pressing concerns at the moment, even if he couldn't bring himself to be wary and cautious as he should have been in enemy territory. The problem was that The World That Never Was had been home for the beginning of his life and had been the fallback point for the past 10 years, and because of that he couldn't consider it enemy territory. He could see the Memories Skyscraper from here and hell if that didn't bring back memories. That had been the place he had been first found, the place where he had first met Axel by tripping on his passed out form, the place he had fought Riku, and so many more memories were here, both good and bad. He paused at the foot of the skyscraper and stared at the place his memories placed Riku, Axel, himself and others.

"So many memories…" he murmured as Xigbar stopped behind him.

"What do you mean?" Xigbar asked, not at all affected by nostalgia and wary as hell. He knew that the only reason the man in front of him had not just killed him the moment he had seen him was that he didn't want to. He would be relieved when he was in a place where he could get some back up, he really didn't want to fight this person, this _Roxas_, who claimed to be from the future, one on one. He had the distinct feeling he would loose quite badly.

The sound of running footsteps reached them at the same time the shout of "Luxord! What has gotten into you?!?" Several seconds later, Luxord rounded the corner closely followed by Axel and Xaldin. Roxas remembered that patrols were done in pairs before The Castle Oblivion venture had forced them to do it in singles. Axel and Xaldin had stopped at the sight of Xigbar with his weapons pointed at his back, but Luxord was walking strait up to him. He stopped not two feet from him, and said in a tone that had equal parts annoyance and worry, "You, Roxas, Are a Grade A IDIOT!" what ever worry had been in his voice was gone with the rain and anger had replaced it. "Do you have _any _idea how much you have messed up the time stream?!? Of Course you don't, you don't have nearly the Necessary connection to time to Feel how much you and Sora have _Fucked. __**It. U**__**P!!!!"**_ At this point Xaldin slid his hand over Luxord's mouth and said, "How about you tell us who have no idea what is going on how you know this person and what you mean by 'Time stream'?" Axel spoke up, noticing that Xigbar looked ill. "Xigbar, Are you ok? You look-" Xigbar interrupted him. "I'm fine. No, Really, I am perfectly A-ok. I've just had any preconceived notions of time and Space get tossed out the window, and found out that were all going to die in the next 3 and a half years." Xigbar had had Roxas tell him more about the future, including how and when they had died. Luxord was closely connected to time, he would know if Roxas were from the future… wait a minute… "Luxord you had better start explaining. Xaldin, let him talk." Xaldin took his hand off Luxord's mouth, and Luxord opened his mouth to explain when Roxas interrupted. "Shouldn't the superior hear this too?" they realized that he was right and began to move towards the castle when Axel's brain caught up with itself and pointed out a tiny fact. He demanded in a confused tone, "Wait, how do you know that?" "It's a long story and I would prefer to not have to explain it more that twice." Xigbar, Xaldin and Axel looked at each other, nodded and the whole group marched towards the Castle.

* * *

"Luxord what you are suggesting is completely insane." Xemnas' voice was exactly as Roxas remembered, silky, cold and with an undercurrent of something no one wanted to identify. Luxord, having been ordered to speak frankly for the conversation, replied, "and which of us is attuned to time? If you want I can get the big, bronze dragon that sent him back in time to come confirm it but he is busy dodging the Lord of time. But really I can do one better and see if I can't get you your memories from your future alternate self, even though you will have to see your alternate self die." the room thought on it. "No thank you Luxord I really don't want to see what its like for me to die." Was the general reply. "Now, what would really prove to me that you truly come from the future, Roxas, is if you told me of it." Xemnas turned his attention to the subject in question, who sighed, thought 'will I never cease to be interrogated? Wait stupid question.' And began, "About a year and a half into the future, I was born as most nobodies are, with my somebody getting his heart ripped out. Now what really made me special was…"

* * *

It was 2 hours later and Roxas was languishing inside the castle holding cell under heavy guard, which in this case meant Demyx, Zexion, and Marluxia where sitting around the outside of the cell and languishing too. They had been kicked down there to make sure that Roxas didn't do something like… like… well to make sure that he stayed put, while the rest of the organization debated if they should trust him or not. To put it mildly, they were bored out of their minds. Because they were on guard duty, the three outside the cell had their weapons out. Marluxia was occasionally taking absent swipes at the air in front of him in-between twirling his scythe, Zexion was reading the Lexicon, and Demyx was tuning his Sitar. Roxas, because he had had Sun Eater and Blazefury taken from him, was idly fiddling with one of his not-so-hidden knives and figuring angles and distances from him to things like the door, the ceiling, the odd wall ornament, and the like. He was quite frankly, not impressed with the organization's security. They hadn't even considered that he had any other weapons besides his most obvious two, or that they weren't his Darkness given weapons. He, in typical fashion, decided to tell them where they had gone wrong in prison security, and on the bright side, he wouldn't be bored anymore. 

"You know, your prison security sucks. I'm not even disarmed."

"Yes you ar-" Marluxia was interrupted by the flash of light and the sound of something metallic colliding hard with the stone walls behind him. He turned quickly and saw a throwing dagger on the floor where it had fallen, then turned back to Roxas and saw that he had two more daggers in his hands, and these were not of the throwing variety. Theses were of the variety that you found in the hands of an assassin that had decided to end your life painfully.

"How many weapons do you have? And I am guessing that those swords over there aren't you darkness given weapons." At Demyx's slightly worried tone, Roxas Grinned. It did not set them at ease. "You would be right, Demyx. Those swords are two I picked up in Karazhan. I, being the intelligent _wanted_ man I am, do not rely on my darkness given weapons. You have no idea how satisfying it is to kill some one who believes that you are unarmed. I've got enough weapons on me to kill all of you using a different weapon each kill. And all you had to do to get them off me would have been to search me. You still wouldn't have gotten my darkness given weapons, but they aren't ranged."

He could see that they were freaked out now and, having gained a slightly sadistic side in the intervening years between tomorrow and yesterday, decided to continue turning their hair white. "But then again," he used a technique to warp behind Zexion and placed Death's sting at the back of his neck, "if you know the right moves," he warped behind Demyx, switching Death's Sting for the Hungering Cold "you don't need ranged weapons." He warped to the ceiling in front of the cell, Sunfury strung and in his hands. He set an Ice-threaded arrow in the string and pulled it back, alerting the three panicking nobodies on the ground that he was above them. "But it never hurts to have them." He said, placing Marluxia in his sights. "But then again," he warped back to the ground, this time unarmed. "I kind of want you as allies, so I won't kill you. Unless you do something stupid, that is."

Demyx was the first to get over his ego and fear. "If you want to be allies, tech me how you stuck to the ceiling." He demanded. Roxas grinned, sending Demyx into hiding behind Marluxia and Zexion, who were, not huddled, but as close as you can get when you don't trust the person you're trying to huddle with.

"Sure! I'll even teach all of you, its not that hard, you just need to practice at it." They realized that they were not getting out of it and that he had somehow placed himself between them and the door. They began weighing their options, face Xemnas' wrath or be taught (and most likely maimed) by this insane person. The decision was made for them when Roxas went serious and said "Come over here and sit down. I need to teach you the Basics of Chakra manipulation before I can teach you the wall walking trick." His presence had changed from insane sadist to Honorable Leader, and they were caught under his Aura of Command. They sat down. And Roxas proceeded to teach them.

* * *

Six hours later Xemnas, Xigbar, and Luxord were walking to the Holding cells. Xemnas and Xigbar were expecting to find the cell empty and the three sent to guard the prisoner in varying states of dying. Luxord expected to find Roxas having scared the pigment out of the three and that in a few weeks that the organization would have three more white heads. None of them expected to hear the sounds of a small explosion. They quickened their pace and arrived to find Roxas out of the cell, and Demyx and Marluxia staring at Zexion, who was staring at the wall, where there was a crater 6 inches wide. Before they could ask what had happened, Zexion opened his mouth and said, "Did I do that?" Roxas replied "Yah, Zexion, you did do that. If you keep up the learning curve, you will be able to punch strait through the wall by next month. If you actually go and do the insane training regimen that I went through, you will be able to turn a 16 foot square section of the wall into free flying shrapnel in two subjective months." 

"Subjective?" Marluxia asked, still starring at Zexion and not having noticed the three listening at the door. Roxas, who had heard them, sensed them actually, when they had been half way across the castle, replied, "it will only be two months to an outside observer, it will be somewhere around four, maybe five years to whoever decides to go through with Crazy Tracy's training regimen. Tracy was," he paused and corrected himself, "_is_ completely bat-shit insane, but she knows three things, how to bend time to her advantage, how to get you insanely powerful insanely fast and how to make you as insane as her. No one is sure if the last point is a bad thing or not, she did live to be 122 years old. Err, subjectively, and in the future. We were relatively sure, since you don't actually age in the time warp, that she actually had around 10,000 years of experience. In fact," Roxas abruptly turned and faced Xemnas, "It might be a good idea for you to have the whole of your underlings go train with her. I can guarantee that you won't regret the extra training. It really gives you an unfair edge on anyone who hasn't gone and done her insane training, which is ninety-nine percent of the known universe." The entire room, excepting Roxas, jumped. Marluxia, Zexion, and Demyx because they hadn't noticed their superior enter the room, Xemnas, Xigbar, and Luxord because they hadn't thought that Roxas had known they were there.

"How long have you known we were listening in?" Xemnas was almost curious, that is, as close to curious as a nobody could get.

"Since you hit the doorway. I just kept paying attention to my impromptu students."

The question of how the three had become students of the person they were supposed to be guarding would remain unanswered for a time, because Zexion calmly walked over to Xemnas and said "Permission to speak frankly, sir?" Xemnas nodded.

Zexion pointed at Roxas and said, "Get him as an ally before someone else snatches him up, or who ever snatches him up will mow over the universe and us. He's a nobody besides, and we will have the keyblades on our side by proxy. Turns out he's teaching them."

At this point Roxas said, "well actually I was planing on dumping the lot on Tracy and letting her train them up a bit before I actually went and did the whole teaching gig, but I need a refresher course too." and was promptly ignored.

Here it should be mentioned that, insane though he was, Xemnas was no fool. he listened to his subordanates, even if he didn't take their advice.

'Have an extremely powerful nobody who is of dubious loyalty and had the keyblades at his beck and call on my side or someone else's side.' Xemnas thought about it, for all three seconds. "If you manage to teach these three how to, as you put it 'to turn a 16 foot square section of the wall into free flying shrapnel' I will consider you a staunch ally and official member of this organization and all those under your tutelage to be off-limits to any unfriendly actions and allies as well."

He was not all that surprised when 5 jaws dropped and his hand was clasped with out the clasper seeming to have moved. "We have a bargain!" Roxas said as he and Xemnas shook on it. "Come of you three, its time I introduced you to my other students and to Tracy." He had he three students herded towards the alleyway to between before they could start protesting.

Xigbar leaned over to Xemnas and whispered, "Was that particularly wise?"

Xemnas whispered back, "I have no Idea."

It should also be mentioned that he was a closet gambler.


End file.
